


The Way He Liked It

by beckalina



Category: NSYNC
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-07
Updated: 2010-02-07
Packaged: 2017-10-07 02:23:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/60371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beckalina/pseuds/beckalina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No one cared that he had sung in arenas filled to their maximum capacity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Way He Liked It

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written 11/2000

Justin Timberlake stood on the small stage, gazing out into the intimate coffee house, the patrons either reading and drinking their beverages, or watching him with slight indifference.

No one cared that he had once been the "popular one" of a group that would go down in the history of pop music, no one cared that he was worth millions of dollars, no one cared that he had sung in arenas filled to their maximum capacity.

To the patrons of the quaint, cozy establishment, he was just another performer in the weekly open mic night. He was just a twenty five year old man with a guitar and a notebook of lyrics clutched in his hand.

Everyone had been shocked when he opted to allow his image to fade into the background after the demise of the group. People had been so sure he would stay in the spotlight, release a solo album, or try to break his way into Hollywood.

Justin, himself, had never harbored those aspirations. His entire adolescence had been spent in front of cameras, there was barely a moment that wasn't captured on film somewhere. He had always known that when the group had finally run it's course, so would his fame.

He loved his life now. A few sound investments made years ago, and an occupation that involved his secret passion, allowed him to live a more than comfortable existence, and the careful spending he had learned in the later years insured that his bank account would never be depleted.

Most of his time was spent writing, a talent he had never fully realized the potential of. In the days of insanity, he's never really allowed himself to sit down and fill the blue lined pages of a notebook with his scribblings. Of course, he had written songs then, that fact had been well known.

But what no one knew, Justin included, was the passion his heart possessed for poetry and prose, or the high he experienced after filling page after page with the ideas that coursed through his mind.

He had always been so caught up in what he thought was his only true talent--his voice--that he had never realized his writing was as good, if not better, than any song his voice accented.

He lived a life of obscurity, refusing to return to the spotlight for any reason, though he had been offered substantial amounts of cash to appear on various talk shows. That chapter of his life was closed, and he had no intention of opening it.

The people who sat a few feet before him didn't care about the Justin Timberlake he once was, but the Justin Timberlake he had become. No one knew that he wasn't just an open mic night performer, but the owner of the cafe. The college student at his far right didn't know that the book she was reading, the latest novel by Randall Hoffman, was, in reality, the latest novel by Justin Timberlake.

He wrote under a pseudonym out of fear that his books would thrust him into the spotlight once more, forcing him to become the Justin that everyone was familiar with, the Justin the danced and sang and put on fake smiles for the flashing bulbs of the paparazzi.

It had taken him a long time to work past that, to become the man he now was. And nothing in the world could ever make him reverse the path his life had taken.

Clearing his throat as his long fingers strummed along the chords of the acoustic guitar, Justin leaned forward to speak into the microphone.

"Hello, My name is Justin, and I'm just gonna sing a little something I wrote the other day..."

A few of the cafe's customers looked up at his words, but most remained lost in their own worlds, perhaps even completely oblivious to the man that was speaking. But Justin didn't mind.

This was the way he liked it.


End file.
